


Of Fire(works) & Tanks II

by Vorserkeien



Series: The Misadventures of the Best Friend Squad [2]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Explosions, Friendship, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26441014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vorserkeien/pseuds/Vorserkeien
Summary: Glimmer enlists Catra’s help in creating another distraction, and this time Adora is determined not to be left out of the fun. Sequel to Of Fireworks & Tanks.
Relationships: Adora/Catra
Series: The Misadventures of the Best Friend Squad [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1824136
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Of Fire(works) & Tanks II

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Please don't try this at home!  
> My thanks to my friend for volunteering to beta for me.
> 
> This is a direct sequel to Of Fireworks and Tanks. While it isn't completely necessary to read it, there are several references to events in this fic.

Although she didn't know it, Catra's day was about to get ten times better. For most of the morning she had been stuck in a very dull meeting with delegates from across Etheria for some kind of future trade agreement. There was absolutely no need for her to be there, but it had something to do with an ages old tradition, and while she wasn't needed for any of the important stuff, she and several other inhabitants of Etheria were expected to be present for the beginning and end, supposedly to voice any concerns they had. The only concern Catra had right now though was how to keep herself from dozing off. It was a hot summer day, and the room was humid and muggy. Frosta had placed several ice blocks around the room in an attempt to lower the temperature, and Catra was finding herself increasingly tempted to sit on one, no matter how inappropriate that would be. Over the course of the morning, she had already ruined the new outfit she'd been given. Completely not her fault, of course. The material was just so incredibly fun to play with. She had discovered that even if she broke some of the threads, the rest wouldn't fray much. So, she had been entertaining herself by making patterns and little pictures in the material with her claws. She had tried drawing a little heart on Adora's leg, but she'd had her hand slapped away so firmly she didn't dare try again.

However, Catra knew she wasn't the only one getting tired. A couple of delegates had such steep demands, which weren't even meant to have been discussed until later, as the main purpose here was to only bring up concerns and not actually debate them. Catra was marvelling at Glimmer's patience after the situation repeated itself again and again. Adora had been fidgeting beside her for a while, and even usually upbeat and cheerful Bow was looking drained and fed up. Eventually Glimmer decided enough was enough and called for a break. Adora also seemed all too willing to get out of there, as they escaped to the peace and quiet of their room. But as the door closed, isolating them peacefully from the world, they were immediately interrupted by a _POP,_ followed by

"Sorry, Adora, really need to borrow Catra for a moment."

Before Catra could even begin to protest, there was another _POP_ , and a very confused Adora was left alone in the room.

"Sparkles?" Catra groaned unhappily as they reappeared in Glimmer's royal quarters. "What-?"

"I need your help," Glimmer said rapidly, halting any further protests.

"With what?" Catra asked suspiciously.

Glimmer took a breath and began to explain.

"You remember the time with Bow's tank?"

"Ye-es?… Wait! You want to do it again?!" Catra exclaimed, her voice rising in surprised anticipation.

Glimmer frantically hushed her.

"They're driving me crazy," she said, without bothering to elaborate on the 'they'. "I just need something to give us all some kind of excuse for a break. Just for a bit. And you're the only one I know who'd be willing to help me, rather than talk me out of it."

Catra found she felt rather touched by Glimmer's comment, even if the reason behind it perhaps stemmed more from her willingness to destroy things.

"So you want to blow up one of Bow's tanks again?" She asked, trying to refocus on the task at hand.

Glimmer shook her head.

"He was really upset about that. It wouldn't be fair, just to delay a meeting."

"So…?" Prompted Catra.

"So, anything else you can think of… That still leaves Brightmoon standing," she added.

Just then there was a knock at the door. Glimmer and Catra froze for a moment, gesturing silently at the door and then at each other.

"Glimmer? Are you in there? Is Catra still with you?"

Glimmer vanished in a flash of glittery magic and reappeared a second later with Adora.

Adora looked between a suspiciously gleeful Catra and a frustrated Glimmer and asked,

"What's going on?"

"Sparkles has asked me to blow stuff up," Catra replied, practically vibrating with anticipation, tempered with a just a tiny bit of fear that Adora wouldn't let her. She hadn't expected her reply.

"To interrupt the meeting? Most defintely, yes! How can I help?"

Catra was certain she could hear a pin drop.

"You'll help?" Glimmer asked, sounding more than a little amazed.

"Well, something needs to be done."

Catra suddenly started laughing.

"So that's why you weren't so hard on me after the tank incident. You wanted to do it too."

Adora felt her face heat up.

"Maybe a little?" She asked, as though making it a question made it better.

"Well, you can help this time," Catra grinned at her.

"What's the plan?" Adora asked.

"Not destroying Brightmoon," replied Catra, "But aside from that, we have nothing yet."

"We should keep it simple," Glimmer said. "Let's start a fire… Just a small one."

"Just what is it with you and fire?" Catra asked.

"It's an easy plan! We make something small and containable. Then someone will have to report it to me, and I'll have to call a halt to the meeting while I go get the full details."

"This is not sounding like an easy plan," Catra began, but it appeared the others weren't listening. Instead…

"It should work," Adora was saying. "We'd need to balance out small versus unnoticed or too easily put out."

"As I said, not easy…"

"We should make it smoke a lot. That'll get more attention."

"Umm, I really don't…" Catra wasn't sure how she'd suddenly become the voice of reason in the group.

"That's a good idea. Maybe outside might be better then?"

"Uhh…"

"Perhaps, but the Brightmoon grounds are so big. We don't want it to be missed and end up spreading to the woods."

"Gah! Fine! Remove the power battery from a stun baton. Stick it in an oven. Turn it on. The battery will explode, destroying the evidence. It can't be missed, creates a ton of smoke. And the kitchens have enough protection to stop any major lasting damage."

Adora and Glimmer paused in their debate, blinking silently at her. Catra noticed and shrugged.

"Figured it out a while back."

"How do you know about that?" Adora asked curiously.

Catra shrugged.

"Remember all those times the fire alarm went off before a test?"

Adora looked like a goldfish for a moment before managing, "But it didn't… really create a big problem. We just ended up being late. Nothing got cancelled."

"Eh, it did… once."

Glimmer was looking excited.

"Besides, we don't want cancelled. We just want delayed. Catra, do you think it's possible to do it without being seen?"

"Should be, especially if Melog's willing to help. The oven part's easy. They've got all those holes along the top."

"Great, so if…"

The door opened. Bow stepped inside.

"Here you all are. We'd really be getting back now," he said, sounding like he'd really rather be doing anything else.

Glimmer looked momentarily uncertain.

"Ah, yeah. I guess we'd better get going."

They all started moving slowly towards the door.

"Oh! Just remembered! I forgot _something_ in our room. Mind if I borrow Adora to help me look?"

Glimmer caught on.

"No, I'm sure that's fine. Don't take too long though," she answered, as she grabbed Bow and teleported away before he could say anything.

"Come on."

Catra grabbed Adora's hand, and they ran down the hallways to their room, trying not to giggle too loudly.

Melog, who had been happily sleeping, avoiding all the problems of the day's meeting, was woken by Adora and Catra not-so-quietly entering room. They gave an inquisitive mreow as the door closed.

"Mind helping us with a… mission?" Catra asked.

Melog must have already figured some of it out, because the next mreow sounded almost sneaky. But they were more than willing to help.

Cloaked, the three headed out of the room to find a Horde stun baton. Luckily, Bow's determination to find new uses for old Horde tech proved useful as they found a box stored in his little workshop.

"Odd," Adora whispered, as Catra grabbed one and started removing the battery. "I could've sworn I brought in more than that yesterday."

"Eh, Arrow Boy probably used them for something," Catra said, as she finally broke the piece out. "Let's go."

Still cloaked, they moved along the corridors, dodging residents and visitors where necessary, until they arrived at the kitchens.

It was unsurprisingly busy in there. As they looked in from the door, they could see several chefs hurrying in every direction preparing food for the lunch that would follow after the morning's meeting.

"I wonder if Sparkles realises she's disrupting lunch too," Catra whispered in Adora's ear.

"What should we do?" Adora asked quietly, ignoring the comment. "They all look in use."

"That one?" Catra said, pointing to an oven at the back of the room.

"I think it's broken. There was a brief memo about it sometime last week. Something about it getting too hot?"

"It still works though, right?"

Adora nodded.

"Think so, but how do we get past all of _them_?" She asked, eyeing up the many cooks moving in unpredictable routes around the area.

Catra was silent for a moment, then said, "Melog says they can get there, but only with one of us."

Adora spotted a couple of massive storage boxes not too far away.

"Leave me there, then go ahead."

Catra nodded, and they moved silently to the hiding place.

"Good luck," Adora whispered.

Catra smiled, and Melog teleported them to the other side of the kitchen. They reappeared next to the oven at the back of the room. Still hidden, they moved close enough to allow Catra to drop the power battery into the hole at the back. Turning the oven on high, the two left quickly and met up with Adora.

"Done. Let's get back to our room. If we're late, it'll look like we lost track of time if anyone spots us."

Melog willingly snuck them back silently along the maze of corridors. Once in their room, Melog bounded across the room to settle themselves contentedly back on the bed.

"Can't believe Glimmer asked us to do that…" Adora said.

"Eh, she's far sneakier than she lets on. Now, come on. We really are late now."

Adora willingly let Catra tug her back out of their room. They ran down the corridor again with more occasional giggles, especially when they passed any guards. They were pretty sure they saw the guard at the door of the former War Room frown slightly when they finally arrived.

Upon entering it appeared that no-one had really noticed their arrival, and Catra wondered if anyone had in fact even noticed their disappearance. The arguments had clearly started up again.

Catra coughed, deliberately pulling attention onto them both.

"Sorry, got rather distracted."

And grinning, pulled Adora down the room to their seats. They received many knowing looks, which Catra ignored. Only when one of the visiting dignitaries gave them a subtle thumbs up and a wink did Adora finally catch on to Catra's implication and promptly turned scarlet. When they reached their seats, Adora sat down without looking at anyone. Catra had to really fight the urge to laugh, and instead settled for a smug smirk. It also had the additional effect of silencing the debate that had started anew, long enough for Glimmer to take back control of the room.

Then, outside the door, they could hear the running of feet and muffled shouts. Glimmer excused herself and teleported from the room, reappearing shortly after.

"Nothing major to worry about. Just a small fire in one of the kitchens," she reported on her return. "But maybe we should take a short break until it calms down out there."

This would have been a great suggestion, had it not been for a knock at the door, and a guard entered with a worried-looking chef in tow.

"Your Majesty. Apologies for the intrusion but he has an important update."

The chef stepped forward nervously to report.

"There was a fire in the main kitchen but it is now out."

Adora and Catra shared a look. It had worked, but it seemed that Brightmoon was a little too well prepared against minor disasters.

"Oh. Well… excellent," Glimmer said, hiding her disappointment. "Well done on such a prompt response. In that case… I guess we can continue then."

Everything started up again, slowly, almost unwillingly. But before anyone could say more than a couple of words, the room shook as an explosion rocked Brightmoon. Various expletives and questions came from the room's occupants, as Glimmer teleported to a window, now sporting an impressive crack that hadn't been there before. The rest of the room quickly joined her.

Sitting off to the side of the Brightmoon grounds was the smoking remains of yet another Horde tank.

Catra found several pairs of eyes on her once again.

"Hey!" She protested. "I had nothing to do with this one."

"Uh-huh," Netossa commented.

When Catra glared at her to argue, she caught Netossa mouthing "thank you", and completely forgot what she was about to say.

"— nothing to do with it."

Catra tuned back in to hear Adora protesting her innocence. She started scanning the room. She might not have had anything to do with it this time, but someone had to have got the idea from her. And, despite what she'd said before, Horde tanks didn't just randomly explode. Not without help. Then she noticed the one person who should be reacting wasn't. _No way_! Instead of looking upset or annoyed, Bow just looked resigned, like he knew he'd just lost another tank.

Several of the room's occupants had already left by this point, clearly going to examine the damage up close. With fewer witnesses around, Catra sidled up to Bow. He saw her coming, sighed, and met her half way. It only took a moment before the others joined them. Before anyone, mainly Catra, could say anything, he spoke to Glimmer.

"Can you take us somewhere private? The Throne Room, maybe?"

While the private part wasn't a strange request, the suggested location was a bit more unusual. But Glimmer followed the request and whether she wanted to be there or not, Catra found herself with the others in Brightmoon's spacious throne room.

Despite feeling uncomfortable after they'd teleported, Catra immediately burst into laughter.

"I didn't think you had it in you, Arrow Boy. Blowing up one of your own tanks?!"

"I… didn't want to."

"Someone made you destroy your tank?" Catra sounded confused.

"Not saying I didn't want to escape from that nightmare, but I had been hoping for a less destructive solution."

The three girls shared a look.

"We… tried," Adora admitted.

Bow looked confused, before… "Oh, the fire was you."

He realised with a pointed look at Glimmer, who looked just a little bit embarrassed.

"Yeah," Catra admitted with a sigh. "Wasn't counting on such an impressively rapid response though," she said, looking at Glimmer.

"So, if it wasn't you, then who?" Adora asked.

Bow looked uneasy.

"I'm not sure I should say."

"Why? Is it…"

The doors burst open, and King Micah strolled in.

"Bow!" He exclaimed, ignoring the stunned looks on the others' faces. "That went perfectly!"

"Dad?!" Glimmer looked at Bow. "He asked you to?"

Bow nodded sadly. Adora just looked confused. And Catra was clearly having the best day ever.

"Well, that tank last time was inspirational and it worked so well."

Catra was making no attempt to hide her amusement.

"I guess some things run in the family, Sparkles."

Glimmer glared at her.

It was Micah's turn to look confused as he asked,

"That was you? You destroyed the last one?"

"It was Catra!"

"Wha- No! I mean, yes! But you helped!"

"It was your idea to make fireworks… which failed."

"It didn't. They were very pretty… So was the explosion," she grinned.

"Was it not meant to explode after?" Micah asked.

"Uhh…"

"There was a slight possibility," Glimmer said.

"Come on," Adora interrupted. "Let's go see what the damage is."

"Hmm, not quite as bad as last time. Can still get some bits from it," Catra observed, standing in front of the exploded tank, before she received an elbow to the ribs from Adora. Catra looked innocently at her before turning to Bow.

"How did you do it?"

"Oh. I didn't. King Micah had a spell."

Glimmer took one more look at the battered tank, then at Catra, who was practically… no, make that definitely cackling, and then at the others. Bow just looked dejected staring off into the distance, and Adora and Micah were now exploring the tank wreckage happily together. Realising she wasn't going to get help from anyone else, she left muttering about finding someone to clean up the mess… again.

The sound of Glimmer disappearing brought Catra back to the present, although the occasional giggle continued to escape. Seeing Bow look so sad, Catra found she did feel a bit sorry for him. This had been deliberate destruction, not even an accident this time. With Adora and Micah distracted, and Glimmer gone, the role of comforting friend had fallen on her. Well, she could do that, right?

"Don't worry, Arrow Boy. You've still got a couple more."

Bow gave the saddest sigh Catra reckoned she'd ever heard.

"No, I don't," he sighed again. "One got used for parts for the skiffs, and the last one… " He gestured a little way away.

Oh. _Oooops_.

Catra decided this comforting friendship thing perhaps needed a little more practice.

The last of Bow's tanks sat a few feet away, newly equipped with a metal flag, made from a giant piece of the exploded tank. Watching the sparks that were appearing, Catra suspected it wouldn't be long before it went the same way as the previous two. She was right. A few moments later, they were both diving for cover as the final tank vanished in another spectacular fireball.

Micah popped his head around the wreck of the first tank.

"Two-for-one!"

He caught sight of Catra, who was shaking her head frantically.

"Oh? I mean, oh no."

 _POP_!

"What happened? I was gone for _one_ minute!"

"Other tank exploded," Catra explained.

"Uhhhh!" Glimmer facepalmed and teleported away, taking Bow with her this time.

Micah, Adora and Catra surveyed the new destruction around them.

"I guess we should start cleaning this up?" Adora suggested.

Catra nodded slowly, thinking.

As the three of them started moving the scrap metal off the Brightmoon lawn, gradually joined by others, Catra voiced her earlier thought aloud to Adora. It apparently was a good thought, because Adora had got that overly happy and hopeful look on her face again, before (cheerfully) kissing her.

Later that evening, with Sea Hawk providing an excellent distraction for Bow, Adora and Catra excused themselves from the general gathering, trying to ignore any comments that might have made both of their ears burn.

No one seemed to notice Glimmer slipping out a few minutes later to give them a teleport to the former Fright Zone, returning to the party before she was missed.

The following morning, the Brightmoon residents woke up to two more Horde tanks once again sitting on their lawn. While most of them did think the giant decorative bows were perhaps a bit too much, Catra giggling non-stop about Bow's bows explained the addition. Adora, on the other hand, simply thought they looked rather nice.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! As previously mentioned - please don't try any of that at home! Feel free to review/comment!
> 
> ~V~


End file.
